Saturday, 11 December 2010

The recent freezing weather conditions and Royal Mail may have delayed this review for a week or so, but boy I can tell you it was worth the wait! Replacing '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' this week I have the pleasure of bringing you another review of my favourite homemade cakes merchant - Heavenly Cakes. Before I launch in to telling you how wonderful their latest cake was :D I should probably make mention of the special discount that all ChocolateMission readers can use on the Heavenly Cakes website. Indeed it's Christmas time and Heavenly Cakes are in the giving mood!! If you enter the code 'JCM001' at the checkout stage of the order system, you automatically qualify for a 10% discount - nifty huh!?

Luckily for me Heavenly haven't just been in the giving mood in regards to some discounts for you lot :D They have recently sent me a whole batch load of their latest cake creations, one of which was this Midnight Mint cake that they have created especially for Christmas 2010. Essentially this cake constituted of a milk chocolate brownie base, topped with a layer of mint fondant and Belgian dark chocolate. The beady eyed ChocolateMission readers will also have noticed the sprinkling of icing sugar sat on top of the cake - it's funny how this simple addition can make any cake look Christmassy isn't it :D

This beastly single serving cake came in the usual cellophane packet with all the standard blurb nicely printed on the pink coloured label. Being in the Christmas sharing mood, and being full well in the knowledge this wasn't going to be a cake I could handle alone, I acquired the services of a fellow taste tester in my office. Looking at the cake it looked spectacular, but I had immediate concerns that the overflowing amount of fondant could potentially send me in to a sugar coma within a few mouthfuls. Taking my first bite in to the cake, the textural differences between the soft brownie, smooth fondant and dense crisp chocolate layers were the first thing brought to my attention - it simply felt amazing. At the base of each bite, the crumbly brownie was delicious and generated buttery chocolate flavours that stayed throughout the experience. The mint fondant layer obviously didn't hang around in establishing itself on the taste either. Thankfully, the injection of sweet mint was more passive than I expected - this wasn't a conventional fondant where the sugar hit became fast insufferable. The peppermint flavours were finely tuned and were delivered in a manner which allowed greater expression of the chocolate constituents. Speaking of which, the dark chocolate on top was equally well balanced. For my tastes it could have been a touch stronger, however the unsweetened, roasted cocoa flavours supplied were more than sufficient at finishing off what was a devilishly rich, chocolate and mint indulgence.

Overall this Heavenly Cakes Midnight Mint has been without doubt the best Christmas themed cake I have tried this year. Despite initial fears that Heavenly's willingness to take usual amounts of fillings and applying them by the power of ten may backfire on them with the mint fondant, I was proven totally wrong. The mint fondant was frankly implemented expertly - neither too sugary or lacking in peppermint prowess. This combined with the amazing quality of the fresh chocolate brownie and tasty Belgian dark chocolate placed on top, made for what was a cake of pure luxury. It seems horrendously corny to use this phrase on a Heavenly Cakes review, but I guarantee that this would be literally 'Heaven' for any fan of minty dark chocolates. For those of you wondering, both myself and my fellow taster polished off our half slices easily with both of us left feeling a great deal of satisfaction. Unfortunately for me I'm not going to be able to look at a mint flavoured cake bar from the likes of Cadbury the same ever again. The bar has just been raised to high by another superb Heavenly Cakes offering.